FXB Call on Donor Governments to Allocate 10-20 Percent of AIDS Budget to OVC

[Guest guest]

Global Action for Children, Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Call on Donor

Governments to Allocate 10-20 Percent of AIDS Budget to AIDS Orphans

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 /U.S. Newswire/

On the eve of the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, the

Global Action for Children -- a coalition committed to mobilizing

the political will, financial resources, and sound policies needed

to provide comprehensive support to orphans and other vulnerable

children in developing countries

FXB, an international organization dedicated to assisting AIDS

orphans and vulnerable children, are calling on G8 and donor

governments to allocate 10- 20 percent of AIDS budget to support the

25 million AIDS orphans expected by 2010 and millions of other

vulnerable children with sick or dying parents.

This heightened advocacy for AIDS orphans will be a central theme at

the Global Action for Children (GAC) Global Village Session in

Toronto next week at: XVI International AIDS Conference.

The Way Forward for Global Children's Advocacy: Creating a Global

Children's Advocacy Network.

Aug. 17, 12:30 to 2 p.m., Global Village: Session Hall 2

UNAIDS Needs Assessment for HIV/AIDS, projects that at least U.S.

$6.4 billion from 2006 -- 2008 will be required to implement a

comprehensive response to the crisis of orphans and other vulnerable

children, but, by best estimate, less than $0.5 billion per year is

currently being invested in OVC programs.

According to UNICEF, less than 5 percent of OVC are receiving any

kind of support. The US and other G8 nations must allocate at

minimum 10 to 20 percent of their global AIDS budget to address the

major crisis we are facing, GAC and FXB stressed.

While the US has allocated 10 percent of Global AIDS funding for OVC

and the UK and Ireland have followed suit allocating 10 and 20

percent respectively, funding is not always appropriated. Out of the

3.6 billion dollars, the U.S. spent on Global AIDS in FYO6, less

than $300 million went toward Orphans and Vulnerable Children's

programming.

Additionally, while Sens. Lugar and Barbara Boxer and

Congresswomen Barbara Lee and Betty McCollum and others co-

sponsored, and the President signed into law PL-109-95, the

Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children (OVC) in

Developing Countries Act of 2005 which provides an excellent

framework for holistic care for OVC, to date the U.S. administration

has not attached any funding to the bill.

" We are facing a global crisis that needs a dramatic increase in

funding, 25 million orphaned children by 2010 and million more whose

parents are sick or dying can not be left to fend for themselves.

Communities, grandparents and siblings are already buckling under

the strain, " said Delaney, U.S. director of GAC

GAC and FXB urge G8 and donor governments to allocate a minimum 10

to 20 percent of their overall AIDS budgets for Orphans and

Vulnerable Children's programming as a first step in meeting the

needs of the millions of children caught in this escalating crisis.

Speakers at the GAC session are:

Dr. Jim Yong Kim, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard

University Topic: Setting the Stage for Global Children's Advocacy

Delaney, U.S. director, Global Action for Children

Topic: Advancing U.S. OVC Policy

Omololu Falobi, Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS), Nigeria

Topic: Civil society mobilization on HIV & AIDS advocacy

Stuart Kean, senior HIV and AIDS Policy adviser, World Vision UK

Topic: Improving U.K. Policies on OVC Issues

Joe , Ph.D., FXB International

Topic: Challenges of Mobilizing Children's Advocates in India

Moderator: Dr. Zeitz, co-chair, Global Action for Children

http://www.usnewswire.com/

Contact: Delaney, 202-489-4391 or Debra DeShong , 202-

528-4214 or Amy Weiss, 202-203-0448